Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust

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What’s This Ear then!!

A slightly frustrating day, I’d planned to give a few minutes of my attention to adjusting the lock on the Tern Hide. The problem is that all the recent hot dry weather has caused the wood to shrink a little, just enough to mis-align the lock with the striker plate – on Thursday the door would not stay shut. This morning there didn’t appear to be a problem, but I thought I’d have a go at moving the plate a little downwards to free things up a bit. Having assembled all the tools I thought I’d need and toddling across to the hide i then found – isn’t it always the way – that I hadn’t packed a chisel, which I would need to pair away some wood to make the necessary adjustment!!! Ho hum. Looking more closely, however, I realised that even if I had a chisel, by moving the plate downwards the top screws could not be put back. Time to re-think!!!

The second frustration for the day was, earlier today, not being able to upload pictures for this posting. A situation which has now been resolved, but has meant a later posting and a slightly shorter blog.

Well so much for my caretaker role. As far as the reserve and its wildlife go, things are a little more cheerful. The early overcast conditions gave way to very pleasant conditions and dragonflies and butterflies in abundance. The buddleia is nw doing its stuff and Sheila counted eight Peacock butterflies on just one of our buddleia bushes at one time.

Peacock on buddleia

Despite the somewhat cooler and wetter conditions overnight, I’m pleased to say that Jim’s dire prognostications about the state of the light trap weren’t realised and there were some interesting moths. A new one for me, despite the fact that the field guide I normally use indicates that they are common throughout the U.K. was this Peach Blossom.

Peach Blossom

Another slightly unexpected find was this Herald, a moth which I have seen before, but usually in springtime. I’d always thought that the name was in some way meaning a ‘herald of spring’ as they re-emerge from hibernation in March.

Herald

One of the strangest named moths are the ‘ears’, there are a number of different ones, but I’ve only ever seen these, with their rather distinctive white markings